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New Holiday Traditions

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Our Holiday this year is a little different since we are not spending it in our home, but I still want it to be special and create special memories for our kiddos. In the past, I've been hit and miss about about doing everything I planned on for the Holidays. As soon as its December 1, time flies until Christmas. I decided to make a list of New Holiday Traditions, that I want to do every year with my kids. Here's My List 1. Wrapping Presents PrettierI love wrapping presents, some years I go 'wrapping crazy' other years simple and lots of gift bags. I recently bought some adorable handmade gift tags from esty seller Kerry of Halle Handmade who is also the blogger behind First Time Fancy. I adore the handmade & hand painted chalk board gift tags, they are so sweet!! I really love the 'Special Delivery Tag.' The tags have inspired me to take extra time this year and wrap each present with love & I love that I can re-use them :)

2. Gingerbread HouseLast year we attempted to DIY a Gingerbread, it tastes delicious but the house its self was a hot sizzling mess it looked like and abandoned gingerbread crack house This year I decided a kit was the way to go, we picked up a gingerbread from Target on sale for $8 bucks. I think they are on sale until Sat, so stop in there if your planning on making one this year. I'm sure I'll buy some extra candy to make the house extra cute.

{ via William Sonoma }

3. DIY Advent CalendarI've wanted to make a DIY Advent Caledar for a while, with so many cute ideas out there, it was hard to narrow it down to one idea. I loved the little white muslin bag advent calender, they can be filed with treats for the kiddos or an ornament to hang on the tree. Since we are going with a small tree this year, I've decided treats will be perfect. I ordered my little muslin bags off Amazon.com and when they arrive, I'll blog about this little Holiday Project. I'm crossing my fingers they arrive by Dec First 4. Holiday Cards Last year we started the tradition of taking our own Holiday pictures for our holiday cards. Over the weekend we took some DIY family pictures. I'll share our Holiday cards soon. Here's one of my favorite pictures, I took on Saturday.

5. Making an ornament with the kids

I plan on buying some clear glass ornaments and filing the inside with pretty paint, should be fun and easy project.

6. Make Holiday Cookies and Decorate them!I haven't made homemade decorative sugar cookies in while, because they are so labor intensive. Way too many steps involved, so I plan on breaking up the steps as recommend on various cookie blogs. I adore these darling cookies from Martha Stewart, they are so cute. I know won't come out half as cute, but that's ok I'm looking forward to creating those memories and wathcing my oldest help my frost the cookies.

7. Holiday Drinks I can't wait to make & enjoy hot caramel apple cider, hot cocoa and white chocolate mocha and of course adult Holiday drinks.8. Homemade Peppermint BarkWe made homemade peppermint bark last year, and I'm looking forward to making more. Boy is it addicting! I also came across a yummy peppermint bark brownie recipe and I'm can't wait to make it. Here's my recipe.

9. Watch Holiday MoviesI shared our favorite Holiday movies last year, I can't wait to snuggle up with some blankets and one of the above mentioned drinks and watch the movies again. I can't wait to watch The Family Man, one of my favorites

10. Holiday Baking for Family & FriendsI plan to do lots of baking this Holiday season and thought it would be nice to give family and friends mini loafs of: pumpkin, sweet potato, zucchini and walnut bread. I love these paper liners I found via Amazon I love the idea of wrapping these up and giving them to family and friends along with the recipe.

It's going to be a fun & busy Holiday season and I can't wait to checking off items on our New Holiday Traditions list. I'll blog about our New Holiday Traditions as we do them. What are some of your family Holiday Traditions? Have you started any new ones this year?

We always go and pick out our tree as a family the first weekend in Dec. The kids are looking forward to this weekend and the hot chocolate! This year I am going to try my hand at making homemade marshmellows. The pics you took look great, I saw them first on instagram.

Love your list! And thank you SO much for turning me on to paper loaf pans. I bake in bulk for Christmas gifts and I think those pans might change my life. Also, a recommendation for adult holiday drinks- Have you tried Trader Joe's sipping chocolate? Tasty on its own but overwhelmingly good with a splash of Rumplemintz. :)

Your welcome! I love that the paper loaf pans are pretty and practical :) I was just in Trader Joe's yesterday, I'll have to pop back in there and grab their Sipping Chocolate it sounds good. Thanks for Sharing!!

What a great list, and thank you for including my tags! I'm so glad that you love them! :)

We make Peppermint Bark every year as well. We usually give them to coworkers, and this year we'll be gifting some to our friends and new neighbours! :) I love my Christmas baking as well and JUST baked my first few batches of sugar cookies today. Lots more to do to bring to parties and to gift as well! I picked up some really pretty tins to put everything in! :)

Hi! I'm Katrina, Welcome to my blog! I love to create, design and dream up pretty spaces. On my blog I share my passion for design, DIY Projects, Fabrics Finding Treasures for my home both old and new along with sharing my beloved 1950s rancher.